Click view video for the 6 News summary from the quake meeting
Christchurch residents were shaken by a 5.0 earthquake on Friday, minutes after experts predicted they were likely to feel one of that magnitude in the coming weeks.
Earthquake scientists told a meeting of Christchurch elected representatives today that they were unlikely to face a major earthquake of magnitude seven or higher which could cause a serious tsunami, but there could still be some unsettling ones between 5 and 5.5.
As if to emphasise the point, a 5.0 earthquake centred 10km northeast of Christchurch was recorded by GNS Science at 2.20pm, just as the meeting was due to wrap up.
The meeting was called to provide more information in the wake of the magnitude 5.8 and 6.0 quakes on December 23.
"We had said the chances of a 5 to 5.9 earthquake was about 50-50, and we have unfortunately had one at or just above what we had forecast," seismologist Kelvin Berryman told the meeting.
"The probability of a (magnitude) seven or greater continues to be very, very low. It's not zero, but it's low.
"There's almost certainly still a 5.0 out there is my guess, and we would expect quite a few fours and threes."
Mr Berryman said the concentration of quakes since the 7.1 September 2010 quake which began the sequence in Darfield, west of Christchurch, appeared to be moving eastward and was now centred offshore.
He said the greatest danger of a tsunami damaging Christchurch was for one originating from South America, where very large quakes were more common, than from off the coast of Christchurch given they didn't expect a quake of seven or above.
Quakes of 6.0 were unlikely to produce a significant tsunami, though one of about 7.0 or higher could, he said.
When asked about possible future liquefaction in eastern suburbs of Christchurch, Mr Berryman said they would need to suffer quakes of about 6.0 close to Christchurch, or of much higher magnitudes from places further afield such as Hanmer or the Alpine Fault.
He said some aftershocks could continue for up to 30 years.
Meanwhile, Taranaki also had an earthquake on Friday.
A quake measuring 4.1 centred 10km northwest of Hawera was recorded at 12.50pm.
NZN / 3 News